1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a safety binding for use with a monoski which is adapted to maintain two boots thereon, and more specifically to a safety binding for a monoski which is adapted to free two boots from the monoski when a force is exerted which exceeds a predetermined release threshold.
2. Description of Background Materials and Relevant Information
Safety bindings are known and used in conventional skis which comprise two principle elements, i.e., a front binding which is adapted to maintain the front of the boots of the skier and a rear binding which is adapted to retain the rear of the boots of the skier. These front and rear bindings further comprise means for freeing the ends of a boot which they retain when the boot exerts a force on the binding which exceeds a predetermined threshold, i.e., a threshold known as the release threshold.
Generally, the front bindings ensure retention and liberation of the front end of a boot in the lateral direction, i.e., along a direction which is transverse to the longitudinal and vertical plane of symmetry of the monoski. The rear bindings include means for maintaining and freeing the boot in a substantially vertical direction.
Such front and rear bindings are most often equipped with a footrest wedge, positioned immediately adjacent thereto, on which a corresponding end of the boot sole will rest.
In this fashion, front bindings have positioned immediately behind them a footrest wedge which is adapted to raise the sole of the boot with respect to the upper surface of the ski. This wedge generally is provided with an upper surface which comprises an anti-friction material, e.g., polytetrafluorethylene, in a manner so as to facilitate lateral sliding of the boot when it biases the binding beyond the release threshold.
Such bindings for conventional skis have an obstruction along the level of their lower surface; this obstruction has a width which is substantially less than the width of a traditional ski. Similarly, conventional bindings are independent, i.e., they release independently from each other. In particular, it can occur that one boot is liberated from the set of bindings which retains it, while another boot is maintained by its set of bindings and thereby remains secure to the monoski.
Monoskis are most often equipped with such conventional bindings, although some have minor modifications.
Given that a monoski has a width which is equal to twice the width of a traditional ski, a spacing exists between the foot-rest wedges of two front bindings. As a result, a boot which is laterally freed towards the interior of the monoski, i.e., in the direction of the other front binding, is substantially likely to abut against the lateral edge of the footrest wedge of the other binding, thereby preventing total liberation of the otherwise free boot; or, at least, the existence of the wedges spaced from each other serves to retard movement of the free boot, thereby resulting in numerous accidents resulting from abutment of the boot with a side edge of one of the wedges.
Similarly, it can occur, as in traditional skiing, that one boot may be freed from the binding set which retains it, while the other boot remains attached to the ski because it does not move together with the first boot. Such an occurrence is extremely dangerous because the monoski has a weight and an inertia which are substantially greater than the weight and inertia of a conventional ski. Numerous accidents likewise occur as a result of this structure, and it is therefore important that both boots be set free virtually simultaneously to avoid such accidents.